Truest
by AiyanaS
Summary: Long ago, the first Dark One was bound in a stone prison and forced to watch as the world grew and forgot about him. Now he has finally broken free, and with him comes a new curse for the people of Storybrook. It is up to Emma to save them before time runs out, but how can she save them when she has been hit with a curse that is slowly tearing her apart? CaptainSwan. AU.
1. Prologue

**I know, I know. I need to be focusing on my other story, which I am. I just needed to write this story down before it drove me crazy. I'm going to try and alternate updates for these stories, so keep a lookout.**

**Reviews are love!**

**EDITED: 11/28/2013**

**Disclaimer:**

**I hold no claims over Once Upon A Time and all of its characters.**

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**Prologue**

_1,000 Years Ago_

"Rothbart! What is the meaning of this?"

The sky above the two figures was a dismal gray that promised storms to come. The trees were twisted, black things whose branches more resembled gnarled hands reaching for the sky in hopes of receiving one last drop of sunlight than anything else. There were no animals to be found in the forest of death, and the only sign of human life other than the two warriors were the numerous white marble statues that were spread throughout the forest. Some lay in various positions of death while some would be joined together in whirls of skirts in upbeat dances. The more recent additions were the very men that had travelled to this place with her to put an end to Rothbart's evil, frozen before they could even draw their swords.

"Dearest Odette," Rothbart sighed quietly. There she stood, the beautiful woman that had stolen his heart without a thought to leave him hers in return. Her long blonde hair fell down her back like liquid gold and her bright green eyes sought his desperately, demanding an answer for his crimes against the kingdom. The glimmer of hope and care found in them was in complete opposition with the sword she held in her hands and the battle-ready stance she had adopted since arriving. "You have no reason to fear me, little swan. Put away your sword."

Odette flinched at the childhood nickname that still echoed in the space between them. "Do I have your word, old friend, that this will not come to blows?"

Rothbart fell into a bow at his waist, his hands flicked up with a flourish that would have made her laugh not even a year ago. "You have my word, dearest. And I _never_ break my word." His voice was like the thickest of chocolate and coaxed her to agree. Odette gently placed her sword on the ground, determined not to break the calm that had wrapped around them, before she stepped closer to her old friend.

"I will ask again, why are you hurting people?" She whispered once she was close enough. His thick black hair was bound in a long braid that was tossed over his shoulder and ended at his waist. His skin was still as tan as she remembered from his days of laboring in the sun. He still stood over her like a giant, all muscles and height, something that used to make her feel protected but now left the Princess feeling vulnerable. Everything was the same, save for his eyes. No longer were they a warm gray that could match the clouds above them. Now, his eyes were pitch black, the color of darkness, with no whites to be found.

Rothbart sighed through his nose, lifting his calloused fingers to twist a curl behind Odette's ear. His eyes, scary as they were, seemed lost in the past. "Do you remember the expedition into the heart of the enemy's territory that your father ordered? The one where he made me Captain?" Odette nodded.

"Yes, you were so proud, so happy. What happened?"

"There was a witch waiting for us." Here he had paused. "She cast a spell on me; I do not remember what it was. All I remember is a cloud of darkness coming towards me and then nothing. When I awoke, she was still standing there before me. She had started rambling about how she had finally found the perfect host for the Darkness. I remember asking her what she was speaking about, demanding to know what she had done, but she never answered me. Then, out of nowhere, I wished from the deepest parts of my soul that she would die. The anger at her refusal to answer me seemed to be a physical thing, and the next thing I know she was on the ground choking on nothing. All because I wished it." His eyes found hers at last. "I used magic, Odette."

The blonde tensed. "I know that much, Rothbart. What I want to know is why you are hurting innocent people." Her tone left no room for non-sense. A scowl twisted his featured so suddenly that it brought that feeling of fear that she had been trying so hard to ignore roaring to the forefront of her mind. Rothbart began pacing tight circles around her, his every breath lined with an aggression that she had only seen in wild animals.

"Because you left me," he hissed. Odette continued to watch him closely, feeling as if she were meeting an entirely different person that wore the body of the man she had once known. "You left me to rot while you were off with that ridiculous boy that calls himself a man and a prince. Where were you when your father sought to use this curse cast upon me to decimate villages and level his enemies? Where were you when I needed you the most?!" The hiss had ended with a screech that moved beyond the limits of both human and animal. Darkness began to spread from his eyes like poison.

Odette held her ground and fought against the tears lining her eyes. "I had no choice! My father, he sent me away to another land and refused to allow me to return until the wars were over. I was cut off from everything and everyone. It was not until after _months_ of trying to reach anyone beyond the walls of the castle that I heard a few maids gushing about how I was to be wed to their very own prince by the end of the week. I heard how it was a shame because I was a _witch_, a magic user that would only taint the royal family.

"I had been enduring months of scorn and apathy because it was the only way to settle the dispute between our families thinking the arrangement was temporary, only to find out that my father planned to banish me to a lifetime of it. So I stopped waiting for someone to come and rescue me. I ran from that castle, only to find that the one person who truly means something to me is slaughtering people for no perceivable reason." She stepped closer now, completely under the sway of the anger and hurt that had been festering for far too long.

Rothbart paused in his pacing, coming to a stop in front of her. The blackness surrounding his eyes continued to wreath like a living thing and he tilted his head in a way that was reminiscent of a bird observing its prey.

"Join me." The command was soft, but carried with it the weight of thunder. Odette blinked hard, refusing to wipe her tears away.

"W-what do you mean?"

He marched past her and through the trees, expecting the woman to follow in his footsteps. She sniffed, taking a moment to gather herself and her sword before doing just that. The pair walked until they came to the shore of a lake, the surface eerily placid. Rothbart flicked his wrist and images of people smiling and living peacefully began to play out over the water.

"I plan to unite all of the divided kingdoms under one rule," he said. His voice carried the same warmth that it had when he spoke of becoming a Captain in the Royal Army. "With one king, there would be no more need for power struggles. The people could live in peace knowing that they would not have to lose any more sons and husbands in pointless battles."

"And you would be this one king, I presume?"

"You are correct. It is not a task that I would trust to any other."

"And how do you plan to unite all of these kingdoms? Through peace-talks?"

Rothbart scoffed. "That is entirely up to the current rulers. Should they refuse my generosity, then I will happily level their castles to the ground." The hair on her arms rose at his blasé tone when talking of the deaths of others. Odette stepped away from the pond, breaking the illusion being spun on its surface.

"Rothbart…idea of a world without violence and war," she began, drawing his attention to her, but not his eyes. "It is a beautiful vision. But—" Thoughts of her father came unbidden, and her next words were heavy with their influence. "But you cannot rule through blood and fear. Fear would eventually give way to rage and bloodlust. The people would gather and fight until their dying breaths to see the end of a tyrant. Just look at the world around us. Look at how they are finally rising against my father. You must do this the correct way." Her eyes sought his beseechingly. "No more blood. No more darkness."

He back was tense as he continued to gaze out beyond the lake. "And would you be one of these people that would rise against me, dearest Odette?"

"I would." Her answer was resolute.

There was a pause. "Even if I saw fit to make you my Queen?"

"Yes." Again, no hesitation. She focused her gaze out at the distance as well. "But Rothbart, you do not have to cause suffering to bring peace. We can do this together, the right way. I believe in us, in our power. We do not need to rely on dark magic to see a better future."

Rothbart turned to her then, his eyes oddly detached before his faces twisted up into its new sneer. Odette focused her gaze on his chest then, unable to meet the frightening gaze.

He stepped toward her, invading her space as his fingers dug into her chin and he forced her to look at him, to take in the reality of what he had become in her absence. "I am sorry to disappoint, _Princess_, "he sneered. "But the boy you knew is no longer alive. I _am_ the Dark One now, the very embodiment of darkness. And since I can no longer trust you by my side, I will have to deal with you accordingly. It would not do to have to worry about you ruining my plans for a better future. I think," he said. "That once I have finished with you, I will tear apart your kingdom brick by brick. I will slaughter every man, woman and child until I feel sated and you no longer have a kingdom to fight for. I will not stop until _I_ sit upon the throne as king." His touch suddenly became tender. "But I will not kill you, dearest. I do not think it within my capacity. I want you to see what I do to the people you care so much for. I think allowing you to grace the skies as the beautiful swan that you are should do nicely."

Odette stared up at him, her eyes resigned. "Then I am sorry, but I cannot allow you to do that." A blade slipped from the long sleeve of her tunic, flat but with wicked curves. In a move too quick to follow, she slashed the skin above Rothbart's heart. He was quick to retaliate, sending a ball of dark red magic at her. Odette landed yards away, her bright figure striking the ground hard.

At first, nothing happened and the silence between the two seemed oppressive. Then a black mist began to seep from the cut, moving to curl around the blade that lay between them. Rothbart screeched in agony and began to claw at his skin.

Odette glared at him through a curtain of blonde hair, refusing to allow herself to feel weak. "Rothbart, of the realm of King William. I, Princess Odette, hereby banish you to an eternity of imprisonment." She groaned, as a wave of pain seemed to rattle her very bones, before continuing. "May your time away from the influence of your twisted magic allow you to see the error of your ways."

A single tear escaped her eye as she watched her friend. Black feathers began to burst forward through the cuts that now lined his chest. Rothbart met her gaze one last time, the words falling from his lips dripping with poisonous promise. "This is not over, Odette. I will regain my freedom. And when I do, I will make sure that all that carry your blood in their veins will suffer. They will not know happiness for as long as I breathe!"

Rothbart's skin seemed to explode, a black cloud hovering in his place before reforming in the shape of a massive griffin the color of night with eyes that burned red like the flames of hell. The creature reared up on its back legs as white stone began to crawl up them. His wings stretched skyward and with one final screech, Rothbart was encased completely in marble. The black mist ceased to flow into the knife.

The silence rang throughout the clearing as the lake finally began to resettle into its stillness.

Odette slowly crawled towards the blade and brought it to her lips, placing a gentle kiss on the metal. "This blade now carries the curse of the Dark One. When one falls, his killer shall take his place and his name shall be written on the blade with his own blood and so on and do forth for the rest of eternity." Her eyebrows furrowed with sorrow and pain. "May the gods have mercy on their souls, for no one else will." With her final words, the blade flashed a bright gold and vanished from her hands. Hopefully, to a place far away from her home.

She looked up at the statue before her.

His clawed eagle hands were clinched in anger and his wings were stretched to near impossible heights. His eyes stared down his wickedly sharp beak and seemed to condemn the spot she once inhabited to hell. He looked for all the world a marvelous piece of art.

"If you can still hear me, I want you to know that no matter what, I will always love you. Despite your darkness, you are my one true love. Maybe in another life we can have the happy ending that we always—" A sharp cry interrupted her message. The pain in her bones had grown in to a fire that licked at her very insides. Blood began to drip from her nose and eyes in a sluggish stream. The taste of copper filled the back of her mouth. Bones began to shift and elongate. She cast her eyes upon his form one last time. "Good-bye, my love."

A twister of feathers as white as snow surrounded her in an elegant dance. Odette closed her eyes, at peace as she gave in to the transformation pulsing through her body. A final clear tear fell from her eyes, and with a sigh, the magic finally took over.

The miniature tornado died away, and in its place stood a pure white swan. A dainty silver circlet graced its neck, glowing a dark red before settling against the feathers beneath it. With a loud cry, the bird took off, leaving the dark forest and the oppressive statue far behind.

Mere moments after she left, a weak pulse of magic came from where her tear landed at his feet and a beautiful golden flower bloomed in the darkness.

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**There you have it! The new and improved first chapter of Truest. Feedback is appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 1

**1IMPORTANT NOTE: I went back and did some serious revisions on the Chapter 1. It would probably make sense to go back and read it, but you all are smart people so I will leave it up to you.**

**For those of you that read 'Made With Love' that will be updated sometime on Sunday. Saturday if I'm feeling really ambitious and energized. **

**Happy Thanksgiving!**

**Disclaimer:**

**I hold no claims over Once Upon A Time and all of its characters.**

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**Chapter 1**

_Present Day_

Something was seriously wrong.

Then again, when was there _not_ something seriously wrong in Storybrook, Maine?

Emma resisted the urge to crack her knuckles in aggravation and heaved a great sigh instead. Beside her, David looked just as annoyed. It had only been _days_ since they had made it back from Neverland with everyone miraculously alive. Henry had his heart, Rumplestiltskin was free from Pandora's Box, and they even had Pan tucked away in a pretty little cell that the Blue Fairy was nice enough to enchant with squid ink.

There had been celebrations and well wishes, which were nice and all, but not what one Emma Swan had wanted.

All Emma really wanted was a freaking bubble bath that would remain uninterrupted for longer than ten minutes.

Instead, she finds herself freezing in the early December air practically inhaling the falling snowflakes while in front of a marble statue that was giving her the serious creeps. Its eyes seemed zeroed in on her location, and Emma was unwittingly reminded of one of her first foster homes. One of the older boys had told her that the marble statues in the art museum that they has visited that day were actually once real people that had pissed off other statues, and that they would do the same thing to her if she misbehaved.

That _asshole_.

As a child, one could understand how a healthy fear of realistic statues could have been developed. As an adult? Well…Emma tried her damnedest to ignore the old paranoia that was buzzing at the back of her head.

"Now, what did you say the issue was Archie?" David asked the man behind them. Mary Margaret had wrapped him in a pale blue hand-knitted scarf and hat combo, leaving the man looking distinctly less prince-like than usual, but Jiminy Cricket showed him his due respect all the same.

"W-well Pongo and I take this route occasionally for our morning walks, and we've never had anything odd happen before." Emma began to circle the griffin statue in front of Storybrook High School, taking in the details that seemed too life-like to be comforting. They even got the fraying on some of the feathers and the individual hairs on the lion tail for goodness sake! Emma sniffled against the sudden breeze, still feeling the beast's eyes on her even though she was directly behind it. "But this morning, when we got close enough to it, Pongo just started acting up. He wouldn't stop growling and barking at it, and ever since Cora took me from my office he has been really attuned to dark magic. According to Ms. Blue, that is."

David gave him a nod, deep in thought. Emma took in the both of them.

"Do either of you know where this thing could have come from?" She asked. Both men shook their heads in the negative. Emma released another great sigh. "Maybe we should ask someone with more experience in the magical department, but I definitely feel like there is something off about this statue."

"Yeah, I get the feeling that it doesn't really care for the fact that we're here right now. Let's head back to the station so we can start making some calls. Besides, I think it's about time we relieve Pan of his current warden, don't you?" Emma gave a stiff nod, hiding a smile behind her own scarf and urging David and Archie to begin moving back down the sidewalk. At the corner, the former cricket bid them farewell and continued on to his office.

Once alone, Emma looked up at the man that had become a true father to her in every sense of the word. His face was stony, hiding all of this thoughts and worries from the world around them. The snow began to fall from the sky in thicker sheets against their faces. The only sound between them was the constant crunching of their boots on the white covered streets, and Emma couldn't help but feel slightly awkward.

She cleared her throat. "So…penny for your thoughts?" David cast her a look, as if asking 'really?' to which she just shrugged. He chuckled for a moment before regaining his seriousness from earlier.

"I just…" he faltered for a moment. "I'm curious. The curse has been broken for the last two months. If this really is something that we should be concerned about, why wait until now? What could have caused this thing to draw attention to itself now?"

Emma thought about his question, going over the events that have happened since the Dark Curse was broken. "Well," she started. "Gold is always going on about how magic in Storybrook is different than magic in the Enchanted Forest. Maybe that has something to do with it."

David hummed before suddenly shoving his hands in his pockets in a way that reminded Emma of Henry when she refused to let him stay up late. "I'm just tired of always having to divert one crisis after another, you know? I just want time to sit down and enjoy my family, but it seems like there is always something going on that is going to try its hardest to rip us apart."

"Yeah, I do." Emma said. She gently poked his side with her elbow. "But if this really is something that we need to be careful with, isn't it better that we found it before someone could get cursed or kidnapped?"

David shrugged, throwing his arm over his baby girl's shoulders. "If you say so. I just want a vacation from all the 'die Charming die' feelings that seem to be spreading throughout the realms." He paused and looked wistfully up at the sky. "Maybe we could go to Fiji. It would be nice to actually be able to enjoy a beach without freezing to death. And Hook does have that ship of his, so we could get free traveling."

Emma laughed and pushed her way through the front door of the station, leaving David to his daydreams in the cold. After hanging her coat and scarf on the rack by the door, she took a moment to bask in the beauty of central heating. Her toes felt tingly already.

"Swan, when I agreed to this deputy nonsense, I did not think that entailed babysitting hell spawn." Emma turned to find herself face to chest with the pirate that had been invading her dreams more than she cared to admit as of late. He was dressed in his typical leather, only missing his long coat, which was draped across the back of his chair. His mouth was twisted into a petulant frown.

David came up beside him and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder, mocking sympathy. "Sorry _mate_, but you're the newbie. That means you get the crap jobs until someone else comes along."

There was no other way to put it. Hook looked positively scandalized at the prospect of pulling grunt work. His ice blue eyes turned back to Emma, who internally swore when she saw the beginnings of a pout in the lines of his face. Outwardly, she gave him a smile laced with faux sympathy and patted his cheek.

The permanent stubble on his chin caused a shiver completely unrelated to the cold to race up her arm and across her chest.

Fucking pirate.

"Don't worry," she said, doing a mental victory dance when her voice came out steady. "One day you might be allowed to file the papers. Don't lose hope just yet." He shot her a snarky look before his gaze softened and his good hand came up to caress her still-red cheeks.

She blamed the fact that her face was still cold for the way that she leaned into his touch.

He was ridiculously warm.

"Is everything alright, love?"

Emma sighed. "We don't know yet. Besides the aura of extreme creepy-ness, the statue is completely harmless so far. We're going to have to ask either Gold or Mother Superior if they know anything about it." Killian hummed in thought, motioning her through the doorway before following behind her.

"I would like to suggest we go to the fairies first." He said at last. Emma laughed.

"You're just saying that because you don't like Gold."

"Quite right, darling. Neverland is behind us, and I would rather not deal with the Crocodile more than is absolutely necessary." In his cell across from them, Peter Pan scoffed from his tiny bed. Killian shot him a dirty look.

Emma rolled her eyes, flopping gracefully into the cushy roll-y chair that was behind her desk. Hook and David sat across from her, the former propping his feet up on the desk. Emma wrinkled her nose and shoved his feet away, whipping the surface beneath them to rid it of invisible dirt.

David shot the pirate a considering look. "You've been around for a while, right? Do you remember ever hearing something about a griffin statue?"

"It's bad form to inquire about someone's age, mate." Hook shot back. "And no, not really. You have to remember that a majority of those 300 years were spent in Hell with that devil currently sitting behind bars."

"You know you enjoyed yourself, pirate. Don't lie, its bad form." Pan was leaning against the bars now, his arms casually looped through them. His voice had dropped in an attempt to impersonate the man he had spent all day with. Killian threw a wad of paper at him, which Pan ignored. "And Emma, it's not the statue that you should be worried about, but what's inside."

Emma leaned forward against her desk, her eyes like green daggers in their intensity. "And I suppose you know what's inside it?"

Pan snorted in a quick burst of laughter. "Hardy. Even _I_ am not that old."

"Then what's with the warning?" David shot back, glaring at the teen behind bars.

"I did take the time to venture outside of Neverland, _Charming_. I came across it completely by accident. It looked centuries old back then too, and the entire forest surrounding it was dead." Pan's eyes met Emma's. "Trust me, when something like that wants out, it _will_ find freedom. It's only a matter of time."

Emma met his gaze head on. "Again, why are you telling us anything that might help?"

Pan rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Think Savior. I'm a boy stuck in permanent youth that is willing to do anything to gain immortality. I kind of _want_ to _live_."

The tree adults shared a look. If Peter _freaking_ Pan was even remotely worried, then obviously time was of the essence. Emma stood and began towards the door. "Hook and I will head over to the fairies right now. David, can you call Gold and see if he knows anything that might be even remotely helpful? We can't let whatever is in that statue out." The other two men nodded, their expressions completely serious. David pulled out his cell phone and searched for the number to the local pawnbroker as his daughter and Hook left the building.

Pan leaned back with a sigh, looking out of the tiny window across the room.

Time was running out.

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Later that night, everything was quiet in front of the high school. The snow was settled into a thick blanket over the ground and the moon hung full and heavy over the town, uninhibited by any clouds.

The only disruption was the scattered pieces of the former griffin statue. Large chunks littered the ground, leaving torn up snow, dirt and grass in their wake. In the center of all the destruction stood a solitary figure, his naked body littered in scars and exposed to the world. With a snap, he was covered in black clothes similar to the ones he had observed the people of this world wearing.

Rothbart cast a disdainful glance over the courtyard, trying to gather his thoughts, as he tasted air for the first time in a thousand years.

He found rather quickly that he did not care much for this _Storybrook_ that he found himself in. He remembered the curse cast nearly three decades ago by a vengeful woman with too much time on her hands. He remembered watching in rage as _his_ powers were passed from user to user like some child's plaything. Powers he could have used to break free far sooner than this moment. He remembered….

Gray eyes surrounded by black closed in annoyance.

His memory was not as it used to be, and some of the older, finer details were lost to the harsh grasp of time.

The image of a large white swan flashed through his mind's eye. Ah yes, Odette.

His curse had worked, for the most part at least. He hadn't counted on her being able to change into a human underneath the moonlight.

He disdained loopholes.

At the thought of Odette, the image of another blonde came to mind. Rothbart felt his chest ache. The resemblance between herself and Odette was uncanny, for sure. The same hair, the same eyes, the same stance, all of it.

Rothbart clicked his tongue in annoyance. They even had that same aura of _goodness _about them. It had surrounded the Emma woman in a cloud of gold, the tendrils of which had stretched out and wrapped around the people that she sought to protect. While fascinating, it was also rather off putting. Obviously, the girl had some ties to Odette, they were too similar to one another to assume otherwise.

However, how was supposed to make her and her kin suffer if he couldn't even look at them without his very flesh beginning to crawl? He hummed in thought, thinking back to all that he had learned throughout his years of incarceration.

"Perhaps," he mused aloud once an idea had come to him. Somewhere in the distance, that infernal clock tower chimed midnight. He would more than likely need the entirety of his powers to cast such a curse, but it was well worth it.

Black mist began to swirl around his hand, constricting and solidifying until he found himself holding a black walking stick. He cast one last look over the disrupted schoolyard before deciding to leave it as such. Let the golden girl know that he was free; her attempts at resisting what was to come would prove entertaining.

Rothbart began to whistle a jaunty tune as his cane tapped along the sidewalk beside him. His destination was clear, and his ambitions were still as set as ever. Only this time, he would not fail.

In the distance, he could see the sign for the local pawnshop. A grin lined with too sharp teeth broke across his face.

_No one_ would stop him this time.

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**I feel awesome, because I kind of like this chapter. Reviews are welcome!**


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